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WORDS MELISSA ROSSI, CHRIS BEANLAND | PHOTO © RUDY RICCIOTTI ARCHITERCTURE
TRAVELLER
MARSEILLE
“If I lived in the Middl
Ages, they would
burnme at the stake,
says Pascal Rolland,
a purveyor of spirits who fancies
himself as a bit of an alchemist.
Best known in his Provençal town
Venelles, about a half-hour drive n
of Marseille, for alcoholic tinctures
Rolland’s latest pushing-the-envel
concoction is an absinthe perfum
Absolument Absinthe, distilled fro
wormwood and cannabis.
Like the alchemists of yore, wh
concocted potions and tried to tur
lead into gold, Rolland’s activities
sometimes tiptoe to the edge
of legality. In 1999, when he found
loophole in French law that prohibi
making the absinthe adored by
19th-century artists, he and chemi
Marc Villacèque began distilling
“the green fairy” to their own recip
marketing it as Versinthe, a green
liquid that clouds when water is ad
Soon after, he opened Liquorist
de Provence (
liquoristerie-provenc
fr
), a Belle Époque-style parlour
where visitors cloud drinks and se
by mixing water with liqueurs mad
from thyme, verbena or figs. Now
they can spritz themselves with th
scent of decadence as well.
Making
Scents
Absolu
Absinthe c
worn b
and w
NICE
As France’s most unusual-looking
museumopens in Menton, 30minutes
fromNice airport, we recommend four
mind-expanding odysseys in the Côte
d’Azur’s town of culture.
JEAN COCTEAU MUSEUM
This stunning new gallery,
above
,
celebrates the legacy of Menton’s
most famous son: poet, playwright and
designer, Jean Cocteau.
RESTORATION
Until May, this exhibition at the town’s
Beaux-Arts and Préhistoire Régionale
museums explores how art and
objects can be restored and renewed.
CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY
Menton is truly an art-lover’s paradise.
The Galerie d’art Contemporain boasts
modernmasterworks by such influential
artists as Velichovic, Combas and
Trémois in a
fin de siècle
palace.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
Don’t be anApril fool. Visit historic
Théâtre Menton on 31 March or 1 April
and enjoy mime, jokes andmore in a
hysterical comic review. Tickets €14.
tourisme-menton.fr
The Jean Cocteau
Museum in
Menton on the
Côte d’Azur
AMSTERDAM
Is this the best-dressed
hotel in the world? Described by
Elle
as “a fashion sketchbook come to life”,
Amsterdam’s Hotel The Exchange has
had its 61 rooms “dressed”by graduates
of the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. In
keeping with the theme, sewingmachines
are available for guests who want to have
a go themselves. It looks –
ahem
– sew
much fun.
exchangeamsterdam.com
Bed Clothed
On the Culture Coast
4
OF THE
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